Values are behind liberal Hollywood's box office blues

[RayChuang]

Michael Medved
Jewish World Review
July 28, 2005

Read the full commentary here (http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/medved072705.asp)

The standard entertainment industry reaction to Hollywood's box office slump reveals the same shallow, materialistic mindset that helped create the problem in the first place. The left-leaning thinking that dominates the movie business follows a common liberal instinct to deny the spiritual dimension to every problem, thereby profoundly compounding the difficulties.

Tinseltown's recent setbacks suggest a crisis of major proportions, with a May USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll showing 48% of adults going to movies less often than in 2000. For 19 consecutive weeks, motion picture releases earned less (despite higher ticket prices) than the year before. Projected ticket sales for all of 2005 indicate a disastrous drop of at least 8% — at a time of population growth and a generally robust economy.

And Medved is absolutely right that the excess of political correctness has really hurt the movie business, especially with dramatically lower patronage from the Red State crowd.

Given the totally ridiculous costs of going out to see a movie nowadays even for a couple combined with the movie industry's excessive Left-leaning messages, small wonder why people would rather spend their money on something better. And it appears the biggest entertainment event of the summer is not any movie, but the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a book that probably has sold its entire 10.8 million hardcover initial print run by now! :thumb:

[Jag Wife]

"The lures include providing high-tech eye candy through 3-D digital projection and IMAX versions of movies. ... Stadium seating, which improves views, is just now becoming standard.

Yawn. How about a decent plot to go with that? Would that be too much to ask for, especially with what you pay those self-important prima donnas?

Other theaters are opting for screenings that serve alcohol to patrons 21 and older."

Great. Just what we need. More drunken brawls and kids getting their hands on booze. Besides, I don't drink. Try again.

Meanwhile, conventional wisdom ignores all ideological considerations in explaining the sudden box office collapse, concentrating instead on purely material excuses (high ticket prices, availability of DVDs) that have, frankly, applied for years.

So have ski lift ticket prices, but I still ski.

Nope. I'll just stay with my books. They're cheap, I can read them almost anytime, they help improve my language and speaking skills, and I don't have to burn gas to go to my bookshelf and pick something out.

[Trevelyan]

Oh God, I just knew I would see Michael Medved's name once I saw the title of this thread. Absolute joke of a movie critic. He actually believes quality is directly proportional to the amount of business the film does.<O:p</O:p

Yeah, "Million Dollar Baby" is liberal propaganda, blah, blah, blah. <O:p</O:p

The drop off is due to DVD’s. Polls show more people enjoy watching the films at home as opposed to the theatre, and that DVD’s nowadays come out not too long after the film’s theatre run. Also, polls show people would go to the theatres more often if ticket prices and concession prices were decreased.

Anyway, I prefer going to the theatre.

Granted, I will agree that this year has not been a good year for movies overall, but I thought last year was a great year, and I did not understand all the complaints about it.
<O:p</O:p